Only Hope Left

Hope trailed behind Daryl as the group pushed on into the forest. Sophia was missing, when they were on the highway they had came across a herd of walkers. They were almost gone, the group was almost safe, until they heard a scream; Sophia’s scream, Hope had froze when she had heard her friend scream. She knew that Sophia would run she felt she should have run after her.

Now the group had trailed off into the woods in search for the poor, lost girl. Hope hovered her hand over the knife that was hitched to her side. She had found it in the bag of weapon’s the group had scavenged from her father’s things.

“You still worrying about it?” Andrea asked as she turned around to see that Lori had stopped, the rest of the group slowed looking back at the two.

“That was a gun shot.” Lori stated, clarifying the noise they had heard earlier on their walk back.

“We all heard it,” Daryl said slightly irritated, as he walked slightly towards her.

“Why only one? Why just one gun shot?” Lori asked, her eyes were big, and full of worry.

“Maybe they were taking down a walker.” Hope offered, her thought was immediately shot down.

“Don’t patronize me, sweetie, you know Rick wouldn’t risk a gunshot to put down one walker or Shane, they’d do it quietly.” She finished, Hope swallowed the small limp that had formed in her throat before looking away from the older woman.

“Shouldn’t they have caught up with us by now?” Carol asked, Hope shook her head, she couldn’t believe how negative these people could really be at time of worry.

Daryl seemed to notice Hope’s look as he spoke “there’s nothing we can do about it anyway. Can’t run around these woods chasing echoes.”

“So what do we do?” Lori spoke.

“Same as we been, beat the bush for Sophia and work our way to the highway.” He then turned back in the direction they were heading. Hope slowly turned after him.

“I’m sure they’ll hook up with us at the RV.” Andrea offered, Lori nodded slightly and began to follow behind the group.

Hope paused for a moment readjusting her book bag onto her back, Andrea and Carol still hadn’t moved.

“I’m sorry for what you’re going through.” Andrea said to Carol, “I know how you feel.”

“I supposed you do. Thank you,” Carol replied, there was hurt in her voice, “the thought of her out here by herself. It’s the not knowing that’s killing me. I just keep hoping and praying she doesn’t wined up like Amy.”

Hope gasped, at the words as Andrea’s features changed at the effect of the words Carol uttered.
“Oh god,” Carol reached out grabbing Andrea gently by the forearms. “That’s the worst thing I ever said.”

Just when Hope thought that Andrea was going to strike out at her, Andrea shook her head and spoke softly, “we’re all hoping and praying with you for what it’s worth.”

“I’ll tell you what its worth.” Daryl kicked in, “not a damn thing. It’s a waste of time all this hoping and praying, ‘cuase were gonna locate that little girl and she’s gonna be just fine. Am I the only one Zen around here? Good lord.”

Daryl walked back up to Hope placing his hand on her shoulder forcing her away from the other two group members. He noticed the small tear stains on her cheeks as he looked down at her.

“She’s gonna be just fine.” He whispered down at her. Hope didn’t look up at him like she usually did when he talked to her, she swatted his hand away and stomped off in the direction they were headed.

~

When Hope was younger she had dreamed of what her father would have been. Strong, handsome and worthy of her mother. He would be caring, and always protect her. One time she had dreamt that she had wandered off into the woods, she had came across a wolf that was three times her size with glowing red eyes. He had protected her from a big scary wolf. He had pulled out some sort of weapon and the next thing she knew the wolf was gone. She had turned to him; happy that he had came to her rescue, happy that he was there… only to find out that he was gone, that she was alone in the woods… all by herself.

Her image had faltered far from what her father was like. He was a business man, a CEO of some sort. She never really had time to ask him before she went with Rick’s group. Even after Hope’s mother told him that he needed to pay attention to her, he didn’t. Forcing her dreams to come crashing down, she would never have the father she had hoped for.

In her thoughts, Hope hadn’t realized what was in front of her until she felt it on top of her. She screamed and kicked, but before anyone could panic Daryl lifted his crossbow, and the walker fell limp with an arrow in its skull.

“Can’t be daydreamin’ little girl,” Daryl said as he grabbed the back of her shirt and yanked her out from under the walker. Hope’s eyes were still wide focused on the walker as he began to walk away eyes scanning the area for more walkers before leading the group onward.

As she followed behind the group Hope thought once more; her father had never been the man in her dreams. He would have never saved her from the big scary wolf and she also remembered that she had shot many walkers because her father refused to. But as she looked up at Daryl leading the group back to the highway, she realized how easy it was for her to picture Daryl as her father. As the man that saved her within her dreams and in reality. She smiled at the idea and carried on with the rest of the group.